Buying former middle school gave Hugo Auto Sales and Parts room to expand

Wednesday

Oct 3, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 3, 2012 at 10:09 PM

Former Savannah school gets new life

Jessika Morgan

You can’t find lunch tables and vending machines in what was the cafeteria of the old Savannah Middle School — you find racks of automobile engines instead.

The classrooms are filled with transmissions.

The football field — goal posts still intact — is blanketed with dismantled junk cars headed to the grave.

When the building was laid to rest after Savannah students moved to a new school in 2009, four silent bidders fought to buy the property on Cameron Langston Road. It took about nine months for Hugo Auto Sales to win the auction, which opened the door to a much needed expansion for the family-owned business, formerly at 2848 Hugo Road.

“It was a good time that it became available so that we could expand our business,” said owner Jonas Howard, who attended Savannah as a child. “We finally prevailed.” He and brother Taylor ended up with property in April 2010.

Oversized for the number of students assigned to it, Savannah merged with Contentnea Elementary School in a new building, giving the county its only K-8 school.

Before the purchase, Howard held a presentation before the county planning board, which approved the business move. He said the board was unsure about the auto business but became “convinced that we weren’t going to bad for the community.” Howard called being a Lenoir County native a “big plus.”

Feedback from neighbors has been generally positive, he said.

“So far, we feel like we’ve been an asset to the community. We strive to keep the place clean.”

It helped that the business owners gave the old Savannah School sign to the Savannah School Alumni Association.

The brothers’ auto sales business started in their grandfather’s backyard in 1988. “We’ve been going ever since,” he said,

Hugo Auto also has a growing auto recycling business, started in 2001. It buys from insurance companies and distributes parts nationwide, using the former home economics area as a shipping dock.

The entire school has been converted into space for the business. For example, the gym is the dismantling shop, with room for four lifts. Hugo’s administration works from the old principal’s office. He said that the property is not full, with 700 junk cars in an area that can hold 2,000.

“Maybe it will accommodate us for a few years down the road,” said Howard, “and I hope it continues to serve its purpose.”

Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at Jessika.Morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.

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